Krizzy 06.05.2005 14:45 |
I trying to decide whether to see it or not. Can you please let me know? Thanks, Zoners! Kriz ;o) |
Lester Burnham 06.05.2005 14:56 |
I saw it last night. I am a huge fan of the books, and Douglas Adams is certainly my favorite author, so I went in with very high expectations. This was a bad thing. The film isn't all that bad, but it jumps around so much with little resolution to any of the plotlines. There are some great moments, and it really is an enjoyable film, but I felt that it could've been done so much better. In all honesty, if they had made a Lord of the Rings-esque series of films, I would've been much happier and more satisfied. The casting is perfect: Sam Rockwell as Zaphod, Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent, and Mos Def as Ford Prefect... they all turn in great performances overall. See it anyway, because there are some excellent moments in there (mostly involving the Improbability Drive), but just don't go expecting it to be the best adaptation of the book. |
Victoria 06.05.2005 15:45 |
Thanks, Lester, for the insightful statement about the film. It helped me out a lot. I was thinking of going to see it too. Tonight some friends and I are going out, and that's the film of choice. I'm also going to see if it's good enough for taking someone out on their birthday. Thank you again! |
Megamike The GREAT 06.05.2005 17:34 |
I saw it, being a fan of the radio series I found the movie lacking somewhat.. however I am smart enough to know that there is just SO much you can cram into 2 hours from a 6 hour series.. much less than the 5 books.. some of the famous lines are still there, some of them have been shortened to make time for the movie.. it was great seeing the original Marvin from the old Tv series in there though... if I was going in there not knowing the original series I would have found it GREAT.. of course I must say that because I HAVE seen/heard 3 versions of this prior to the movie I myself felt let down a bit. Oh well.. I thought it was good.. of course the cameo of Simon Jones was cool... |
Daburcor? 06.05.2005 17:55 |
I loved it. Though, I've never read the books. |
Megamike The GREAT 06.05.2005 17:57 |
Just remember to stick around for the credits.. that is all I am saying.. |
deleted user 06.05.2005 20:14 |
Tickqueener said he saw it and he was very let down by it because he found it really boring. He is a huge fan of the books, so he had high expectations about it, too. But he said that it really should have just stayed a book. |
Megamike The GREAT 06.05.2005 20:49 |
Well the radio series was really good.. although it WAS 6 hours long.. I myself have only read the first 2 books, and then lost the book (it was the one with the first 4 books already together.. Signed by Douglas Adams..) I think a friend of mine borrowed it and never returned it. |
Victoria 06.05.2005 21:21 |
We always stick around for the end of the credits. It's a tradition. Sometimes it's good cause of what they put in the film. Usually, it's a good tool to avoid the massive crowd trying to leave and all do the same thing at once. Also sometimes you can find out interesting facts about the film, like where it was shot or odd things comedic people will add. |
dragonzflame 06.05.2005 21:42 |
I saw it but missed the credits dammit! Having read the books about five years ago, I can remember just enough to understand the plot of the film but not enough to dull my enjoyment of it. I thought it was a great laugh - the So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish song; Stephen Fry's voiceover; the Improbability Drive; Earth Mk.II, and Alan Rickman damn near stealing the show as Marvin. I'm sure that I could find things to nitpick about it but quite frankly I don't want to. |
geeksandgeeks 06.05.2005 21:58 |
I went to see it with my boyfriend, who is the world's biggest Hitchhiker geek. We were both entertained, but he was rather annoyed at, among other things, the invented Arthur/Trillion relationship. This from the guy who got depressed when the Phantom and Christine couldn't be together. I thought it was pretty well-done. Never knew Alan Rickman could be such a great manically-depressive robot (was also vaguely disappointed that he was never actually seen in the film - Alan is the love of my life :D). |
Victoria 07.05.2005 03:18 |
Hey, thanks! I saw it tonight. I missed a bit of the first part, but I enjoyed myself. Unlike so many others, I think that if I hadn't read the book, I wouldn't have liked it as much. I like that one probability scene when Arthur gets sick (trying not to ruin it for those who will go see it). Hehe, that was good! :) |
brENsKi 07.05.2005 05:55 |
Lester, I too am a great Douglas Adams fan have ALL 10 of his books but one question does the film end at the end of the book HHGTTG? or does it go through the other books too? because i thought this was a great oopotunity for them to do a "Rocky" - ie make a handful of films btw- people, if you haven't read the Dirk gently books - read them, More of the same, but with better plot lines and funny observations |
Taylor-Mayed 07.05.2005 08:38 |
Saw it yesterday. I suppose it’s in a way unfair to judge the film in comparison to the books, radio series, television series, partly because it has to be designed to stand alone and partly because they were all made with the benefit of their writer and creator being actually alive and involved. I did try to sit back and enjoy the film without thinking ‘they’ve changed that… they’ve missed that out,’ but come on. It’s impossible. This is the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide, for goodness sakes! It’s also difficult because of the film-makers themselves and their little touches to the past. Perhaps the best moment for me was the shot of the Guide itself floating through space, the title revealed to the familiar strains of the original Flight of the Sorcerer theme tune by The Eagles. I thought at this point ‘Yes! This is where this film is finally going to start!’ but it never really happened. Simon Jones as the Magrafean hologram and of course the original BBC Television Marvin in the Vogon office queue were also nice to see and reminders that this was frankly not as good as any other version of the story there’s ever been. Let’s start with Marvin himself, shall we? I was quite optimistic when I heard Alan Rickman’s voice for him in the trailer, but the character here is just very very wrong. The original Marvin was depressed, grumpy and not only had a brain the size of a planet but an ego the size of one. One of the whole points of Marvin is his massive superiority complex, but he’s portrayed here with an inferiority complex, seeming more pathetic and whiney than the iconic character he was first time around. Speaking of characters being done badly, Mos Def as Ford Prefect was just dire. Well, perhaps he wasn’t so bad, just what he was being asked to do was wrong. Ford is a mysterious, perhaps somewhat arrogant freeloader who just didn’t care. Again maybe it’s unfair to judge him against David Dixon (always my favourite Ford, with all due respect to the original radio show’s Geoffrey McGivern) but rather than being enigmatic and frustrating, Def’s Ford is just a bit… Well… Camp and silly. Zaphod was better (shame about just the one head) and much easier to get used to seeing as how he was always played as a faux Yank anyway. And at the risk of seeming alarmingly sexist, the film’s Trillian is a hell of a lot prettier than Sandra Dickinson, and again as the character was a Yank on TV I don’t mind her being so here. (I didn’t hear the radio series – where Trillian is of course English – until after I’d seen the TV show and read the books so I always have the TV fixed as the imagery and voices in my mind). On the subject of Trillian though, her love story with Arthur – why??? For God’s sake, why turn the thing into a soppy, vomit-inducing sub-Hugh Grant romantic comedy? Please don’t say anybody’s trying to turn Martin Freeman into the new Grant. Mind you, he’s already halfway there by playing Tim, his character from The Office in everything he does, just as every single Hugh Grant performance for the past decade or so has just been Charles from Four Weddings by any other name. Aside from all that… Well, I liked Mirren as the voice of Deep Thought and Fry as the voice of the book, although it was a shame so many of the classic Guide sections were cut so short. The woollen bit was good, and Bill Nighy was great as Slartibartfast, but overall… Nah. I think I’ll stick with my DVD of the TV series thanks. The movie may have better effects, but you can’t beat the older version’s humour and character. The best bit of the whole trip to the cinema was probably popping into Virgin Megastore on the way in and picking up Ripping Yarns and Shaun of the Dead in their two for one DVD offer. That or Tom Baker doing the voiceover on the Wallace & Gromit trailer they showed before the film… Please don’t let these people make The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, or I might cry. |